Chapter 33
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Eve wasn't sure what to say at the memorial service. She lovedher mother, missed her very much, but she was also angry at her for leaving when she needed her the was glad that Karen and mr Mathison skipped this funeral. This was supposed to be about family. Eve and Zack were Kendall's only family, friends from the neighborhood also showed up. Father Mcnamara said a prayer, asking God to accept Kendalland forgive her sins. Suicide was looked down upon in the catholic church, but everyone here agreed that Kendall had been driven a little mad by ELE. Zack spoke of when he first courted Kendall, so many years ago. It was easy for Eve to forget that theremust've been a time when her parents were madly in love. Even before 2/4, Zack and Kendall seemed to have taken each other for granted, went from passion to parents. When it was time for Eve to talk, she tried talking about the good times. She remembered her mother staying by her bed when she was sick, how she always made Eve a big breakfast on test days or the first day of school. Eve started crying, so she just finished by saying "I'llalways love you mom.
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After the fueral Eve and Zack went back home. Eve remembered when her grandparents died people brought food back to her home for the wake. But today only Eve and her dad came here. These days,with food rationing, peoplegot what they needed, but not much more. Not enough to give food to grieving people. A part of Eve was grateful. Her grief was enough without having to put on a brave face for strangers who'd just end up talking sports or movies. Zack tried comforting his daughter. He never knew the right word, but he wanted to be there for her. Eve felt like being alone in her room. Eve did some channel surfing until she found the Twilight Zone channel. They were showing some old episodes about the end of the world. Eve figured se might as well get used to this idea. As much as she would've liked a spaceship to escape on, that wasn't going to happen. Eve later checked the fridge for something to eat. There was stilla piece of birthday cake, from Adam's birthday. Mr and mrs Hellar had given her a couple of pieces of cake, before he hit her. The family never threw away this last piece, for the same reason noone brought food today. This cake was still good, thanks to modern refrigeration technology, but probably wouldn't be more than another week. Eve decided to eat this piece now, one last bit of normalcy. She also took her mother's last bottle of beer. It had been less than 100 days since 2/4, how much simpler things had seemed,such a short time ago. These last 100 days had been hard enough. Eve didn't know how she'd make it another 1163 days. Maybe this beer would help. Either way, it was worth a shot,